Don't Think You Understand
by Esche
Summary: One shot of the newest book in the Gone series, Fear. It's about a general look on how some of the people inside the FAYZ feel. It's not about anything in particular, maybe it's just me ranting LOL.


**SPOILERS ALERT! If you haven't yet read Michael Grant's new book Fear, seriously stop reading now. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I will say it was SO AWESOME! Ahem, so anyway, I wrote this after reading Fear. It made me think of how the people outside the FAYZ would react to the actions of the kids inside. They had to murder, had to do violence, basically anything to survive, but what would this look to the people outside? They wouldn't understand the circumstances, just that kids were beating each other, carrying around guns and machetes, some freaks of nature that could shoot lasers out of their hands (which is seriously cool btw). And like society, they would talk, and condemn what they didn't know.** **Enjoy :D (YAY FIRST STORY!)**

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Don't Think You Understand

It has been a week since the barrier turned transparent. The outside world was always watching, always seeing; in a way, it was worse than the darkness. It was like we were all specimens under a microscope. About half the kids now always stayed next to the barrier, some enjoying the attention like The Breeze, some just wanting to let their parents know they were still okay. But the other half, stayed away. They knew they were different, were scarred in ways the outside world couldn't even imagine. It was like with the coming of the transparency of the barrier, came a new barrier between parents and their kids. Kids who carried baseball bats, machetes, and knives. Kids who looked like savages. For some people it was all too much.

Everyone knew that Sam was feeling upset again, rumours had spread that the barrier had come down when he was trying to defeat Penny and the Gaiaphage. No one knew exact details, but some people claimed it was his own mother who saw him when he used his powers. I hated these constant helicopters, the swarms of people. I didn't want to go near the barrier myself in case I saw someone I knew. It was the fear of being condemned by the people we love, that made us stay away. Once, I had found myself straying to close to the barrier, and I saw a woman and her child pointing with horror and disgust on their faces as I ate a squirrel. Fury and hate burned in my stomach for these people outside. These people that would never understand. These boiling emotions strengthened my resolve. I headed toward Perdido Beach, scouring houses for paper, pencils, pens. A lot of the books had been taken and used to fuel the fire when the darkness came, but I managed to find a blank notebook among a destroyed house. Notebook and pen in hand, I tightened my jaw and made my way to the barrier. There were already a couple kids there, but I chose an empty spot and sat. Some of the people outside gave me wary, frightened, curious looks, as they did all the kids trapped inside. They didn't know who were the freaks, but to them, we all looked like animals and thugs.

I wrote furiously in my notebook, but making sure the writing was readable and neat. After each page I held them up to the crowd of people. It was less effective, but it was the only way to communicate to them.

"You think you know us? That you can stare down on us and feel superior. Do you even know what we went through? It's laughable really. We survive the starvation, the plague, the sickness, the man eating bugs, adapting to the environment, kid turning on kid, the darkness, and the thing we fear most is your disproval. Right now, this is our world. You have no right to blame us for our actions. We ate cats, dogs, squirrels, pigeons, and sometimes people. There were kids who burned down houses, who beat other kids in violence, who sacrificed one another to the coyotes. We did what we could to survive. I've seen things none of you could understand. I've seen a kid literally cough up his own insides, a person eaten alive by worms, a person gone insane and clawed out his eyes. I carry a knife in my pocket, and a baseball bat studded with nails at all times. No one ever goes unarmed in our world."

There was a crowd building now, shock and fear crossed their faces. Let them be scared. At this point I didn't give a damn about any of them. I continued writing.

" Half of you would have died by now. Unable to cope and survive in these conditions. And the people that your fearing and condemning? They saved my life. Sam saved my life, so has Edilio, Astrid, and many of the kids you are looking at in disgust." like many others I held a hero worship to the boy they called Sam Temple. I was on the boats when he gave us the speech and walked off into the darkness. He said he wasn't a leader, but all of us knew he truly was our saviour, our soldier. "So look at us like were caged animals meant to be put down, look at us like were some attraction, some brutal, murdering kids. But don't you dare judge us like you know what we've gone through. Because you know what? Out of all those kids who've already died, I am alive. I am alive and breathing for another day." I could see my parents in the crowd now, but even now, with all my resolve, I refused to look at them. I laid down my notebook, and walked in the direction of the lake, tears threatening to spill over. There was still work to be done, and I'd be damned if anything was going was going to keep me from living.


End file.
